Amos looked Hazel dead in the eye.
"One tactic I used was forcing my way downwind from the creature and keeping totally still.That way, it can't smell or hear you.It might can still see your heat signature yes, but with just that alone and no other signs of live prey it might disregard you, thinking of you as something else, a decoy perhaps."

He then reached into his pocket and pulled out a small wooden carving on a piece of leather cord.The carving was ivory and was of an eagle, with every design flawlessly crafted right down to it's beak.

"This is a totem representing the eagle of guidance, the symbol of the great spirit.The Tartok fears it like a plague.A friend of mind gave it to me, but it never worked for me, although I have a feeling as to why it didn't.Your a Native American girl, it's obvious.It will work for you."He said handing it to her.

"What about Paulie?"Demanded Terrrence.
"Nothing."Amos replied flatly,"He's already dead, there's nothing we can do for him now.The Tartok has had its first kill of the night."

"What!?"Mark demanded.
"You heard me."Amos replied.
"There must be something we can do!"Mark said frantically.
"There's nothing we can do about it kid!Worry about yourself!"Amos snapped irritably.

Hazel was shocked as she was handed the pendant. She fingered the pendant she was already wearing, the Iroquois Tree of Peace. The turquoise beads were meant for safety in travel, good health, and- most importantly in this situation- long life. She hoped it would work. She wanted to know if it would keep only her safe, or everyone around her safe. She stopped herself from asking, worried the answer might lead to bigger problems between them down the line. She was the outsider in this group, and if they were willing to let Paulie go, she didn't think they would have any issue trying to pry any thought of protection away from her.

"Well, I mean, we haven't heard him screaming outside, so that's a good sign he's not hurt yet. Maybe he'll get back to the house?" A second later, what Amos said sunk in.

"Hold on. You said upwind. You mean outside? We're more likely to be safe inside, aren't we?"

Amos nodded,"Yes, we're more likely to be safe inside.We need to secure this place and get some protection for ourselves.I have seen it break into houses before, it usually prefers to try and wait it's prey out, but eventually it will lose patience and come for us."

Courtney spoke up,"Mark, didn't you say your dad has a bunch of guns upstairs?Could we use those?"

"Uh-uh yeah,"Mark stuttered,"I'll go get th-them."
He turned and headed for the staircase.
"Is there anything we can do?"Makaya asked Amos.

"Yes,"he nodded,"go around and lock every door and latch every window, make sure that nothing is left open or can be opened.Nothing at all."

"Okay, we can do that."Haley spoke as all four girls rose from their spots and began dispersing.Haley headed down to the basement, Courtney and Abby headed upstairs, and Makaya began going room to room downstairs, latching and blinding every window and locking every door that was not locked already.

"What about us?"James asked Amos, indicating himself and Terrence, who had both stood as the girls headed out to check all the doors and windows.
"You fellas help me barricade all the doors, but we'll leave the basement door free.In case we have to run.You,"he pointed to Hazel,"go search around for candles and or lanterns."

"I think there are some of both in the basement."Terence sloke aloud.

Hazel suppressed a groan of disdain. She already didn't like the basement. Oh well. It was the least she could do.

"Whoever goes into the kitchen should explore the drawers. I'm pretty sure I found a junk drawer in there, maybe on the island. Every kitchen has one. I bet we'll find matches or lighters or something."

Hazel turned and started toward the basement. Oh, this wasn't fair, going down there alone. With the hallway that connects to the outside... She clenched her fists and pulled the door open. They needed things down there. She tapped her phone light to life and started down the stairs, moving slowly.

The basement was somehow creepier than it was before. All at once, she hurried down the last couple stairs and over to a shelf that looked promising. Every few seconds Hazel looked over her shoulder at the hallway Terrance had come down earlier.

11:30 P.M

Mark came staggering down the stairs with an arm load of firearms.
He maneuvered over to the living area and layed them down on the coffee table and spread them out.
Amos, James and Terrence strained to push the huge couch up to the front door.
All the windows were latched shut and the blinds and curtains pulled down all through the house, phone lights were shining about all through the building as everyone scurried about to complete their tasks.

Amos and the guys had finished with the front door and were now in the back part of the first floor, pushing chairs and other furniture up in front of the back door.

Makaya, Courtney, and Abby all gathered in the living area.
"Where's Haley and Hazel?"Abby asked.
"I think they are still downstairs.Locking up the basement door."Makaya said.
"It shouldn't take this long should it?"Abby asked worriedly.
"Hazel went down after candles and flashlights I know, I heard the old guy tell her to go look for some of both."Courtney said.
________________________________________________________________

Down in the basement, to the very back section, the door that lead outside was totally demolished.Broken and cracked up splinters and chunks of wood lay scattered all across the floor as far as ten feet away from the door.
Snow was being blown in and was collecting all across the floor.
A pair of large out of kilter barefoot footprints lead off into the dark and otherwise silent basement.The only sound being the low whoosh that circulated throughout it's halls from the wind blowing in...

Hazel kept her eyes on the door every time she looked backward. In the darkness she couldn't see the footprints in the snow. Hurriedly, she rushed over the shelves in the basement, finding some power tools (a drill with a built in light!) and other things someone might find in any basement. After moving on to the second shelf, she found what seemed to be camping equipment? Or maybe emergency equipment... she couldn't quite tell. A strange, crinkly fabric that felt like it could be a thermal blanket or a tent... ah ha! Lanterns! She grabbed the lanterns she found, followed quickly by some candles stored near to them.

"Haley? Are you almost ready to go up? We should go together." Hazel called into the expanse of the basement, her yes turned nervously toward the destroyed door once again.

The basement was pitch black since there were no lights this time, due to the power outage, and the whooshing from the wind was rather loud circulating through the basement.So it was no surprise when Hazel didn't see or hear Haley walk up behind her.
Haley grabbed Hazel by her arm with her right hand and slapped her other hand over Hazel's mouth, for she knew Hazel would either scream or drop what she was carrying because of the sudden unexpected contact.Which wouldn't be good due to the recent circumstances.

As she grabbed Hazel, she immediately leaned forward and spoke in her ear loud enough for her to hear,"It's me Haley, don't worry.But we need to get upstairs Hazel.Right now!"She hissed letting go of Hazel.

About that time they heard it.
Slap.Slap.Slap.
The sound of bare feet walking rapidly across the linoleum floor.
"Hazel come on!"Haley begged,"I was fixing the door and I guess it heard me and it came and started smashing it up, so I ran.I couldn't see it's face.But that must be it."Her voice sounding more and more fearful.

Hazel nodded, her breath rasping in and out through her nostrils over Haley's hand. She held up the drill with the light to give to Haley, pointing to the button that would activate both the drill and the light. Hazel herself had that eagle, and she hoped her own family pendant would add to the safety offered. It was the Tree of Peace, after all.

She turned as soon as Haley began to let her go and ran for the stairs.

Haley looked surprised at first but then followed in tow, sprinting up the stairs, halfway up she however she misjudged and hung her foot, stumbled forward, and collapsed to the stairs, the drill flew from her hand and clattered against the step in front of her.

The door was just a few steps in front of Hazel, and Haley lay several stairs down, scrambling, trying to get up.

A shadowy silhouette could be seen, seemingly to have appeared out of nowhere, it stood at the bottom of the staircase.
It was tall and lean looking, a low rumbling growl like that of wolf could be heard.
Haley tried to stand and dash but hung her foot and fell again.
The growling turned into a loud and vicious snarl, as the shadow figure game walking in an elegant fashion up the stairs, slowly and purposely closing in on the downed Haley.

"AMOS!" Hazel screamed, and she snatched up the drill near her feet. She turned the thing on, shining light down on the creature.

She hoped she would see Paulie standing down there, laughing at the two of them. That had already happened once before that night.

Hazel went back down a couple of steps against her better judgement as the drill whirled to life, making racket, and grabbed at Haley's wrist. "Pay attention to where you're putting your feet!" She shouted, years of rock climbing training causing frustration to well up inside. She didn't care how she sounded. She would apologize later. Hazel tried to yank Haley to her feet. "Eyes at the top of the stairs. Come ON!"

The door swung open, revealing Amos with his rifle held in his hands.
"Dammit!"He hissed seeing the approaching beast, which was closing in on the two girls.
Hazel's light beam swept over the creature's face, revealing that Amos was, in the terrible fact, telling the truth.

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Amos raised his rifle and pulled the trigger.
Click.
It was jammed.
"Shit!"He cried,"Use the eagle!"He said frantically.
The Tartok was now just an arms length from the girls, with another chilling snarl, it reached out it's gray skinned and twisted arms toward the girls.

What the... HOW?! Hazel thought about anything that might make the totem work, terrified that she was going to do it wrong. She grabbed it out of her pocket and held it by the leather cord, letting it hang from her fist. She felt foolish and her instincts were screaming at her to run, that this wouldn't work.

"What do I do?" Hazel shouted back at Amos. "I'm not a keeper of the faith, I've never led a ceremony!"

"Just hold it out towards the damned thing!"Amos called out.
The Tartok snarled and reached out to grab Haley.
Quick on his feet, Amos rushed forward, though nearly stumbling, he gripped his rifle with both hands and slammed his rifle into the creatures face and sent it hurtling backwards.

The Tartok reached out and caught itself on the railing on the wall before it fell down the stairs.
Chik-chik.
Amos snapped the bolt on his rifle and ejected the jammed bullet which dinged down onto the step he stood on.
He raised his rifle and took aim as the growling Tartok came rushing back up towards the trio.
He took aim and pulled the trigger.
POW!
The closed quarters they were in magnified the sound of the heavy calibre rifle to an extreme amount and lit up the dark staircase.
The Tartok's head snapped backwards and it fell downward and went tumbling down the stairs into the darkness below.
Amos turned and swung the door open, ignoring the solitary ringing noise in his ear.
He shouldered his rifle and grabbed both girls and pulled them through the door with him, and slammed it closed when they all were through.
He then turned the lock on the handle and pushed both girls out of the way and grabbed a nearby wall table and pulled it over against the door and tilted it at an angle, wedging it and blocking the door.

Everyone else was gathered around, chattering away.
"What were you shooting at?"James asked.
"Was it that Tartok thing?"Demanded Courtney.
"Are you guys all alright?"Terrence asked concerned.
"Oh my God, is that thing still down there?"Courtney asked frightfully.

Amos stared blankly at them and putted to his ears with both hands.
They were still ringing, it would take a minute for the ringing to subside.

Hazel screamed when the gun went off, when the Tartok had rushed back at them, when Amos had grabbed her and Haley, when she had been thrown up the stairs, when she had been tossed to the ground. Or maybe it was just one long scream. She wasn't sure, she couldn't hear it.

She huddled on the floor, clutching the leather cord attached to the eagle so hard that it was starting to leave a hard across her knuckles. Somehow she hadn't let go of Haley's wrist. In fact, somewhere along the way, her other arm had gotten wrapped around Haley, and she had remained that way even after being thrown to the ground.

"Are you ok?" She asked Haley, the high pitched tone drowning out her own voice. She didn't realize how hard she was shaking or that she was still yelling at the top of her lungs.

"Yes I'm fine."Haley said loudly, slowly pulling away her arm.
She stood and seemed a little wobbly.
Terrence reached out and gently took hold of her and guided her over toward the couch.
"Thank you."She said as he helped her sit.

Amos turned to the others.
"The Tartok's down in the basement.We need to arm ourselves and get upstairs.Now."He said.

"I thought you said you were hunting it, not running from it."James demanded.
Amos turned and stared James dead in the eye,"I am.This is my fight, not any of yours.I need to keep you kids safe until dawn, then you can all get out of here.I'm not going to ask or even begin to expect you kids to help me.Again, this is my fight, not any of yours."

"Dawn?Why dawn?"Asked Makaya.
"It only hunts at night, come morning it'll be safe for you to leave."Amos said.
"But w-wha-at about my parents lodge?"Asked Mark.
"I suggest you make up some kind of story that totally discourages them from ever coming here again."Amos responded.
"Wonderful."Mark mumbled staring at the floor.

"Why can't we go now?Or get help?"James asked.
"Because,"Amos said,"with this storm the police won't get here until early in the morning, and you'll never make it on that bike or that snowmobile.You'll stall out and you'll freeze to death before you reach Deadhorse.We have to arm ourselves and stay upstairs until morning.Now, lets have a look at Mark's guns over here."

There were several different firearms that Mark had brought down laying on the table.
A pair of twenty two pistols, a glock 19 pistol, a twelve gauge pump action shotgun, a scoped lever action thirty-thirty rifle, a pair of twenty two pistols, an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle, and a pair of scoped crossbows.
Mark had also brought down several small boxes of ammunition and a quiver arrows for the crossbows.

Hazel's hearing slowly came back as the conversation went on. Somewhere around "It only hunts at night."

She listened as her hearing came back fully. She highly doubted any story Mark could come up with would keep his family away from this place.

"The door to the outside is broken up. There's nothing saying it's not back outside already." She informed them, unsure if Haley had mentioned the door being destroyed while her ears were still ringing. "And I don't know how to use any of these."

"I think the police should still be called, that way they get here as soon as possible. Shouldn't this thing be recorded however possible? All the sightings and attacks and stuff? Anyway, at the very least we should tell them that Paulie is out there somewhere so we aren't held accountable for his death later on." Hazel pulled her phone out to dial the police. "Is it still 911 out here?"

"No service, remember?"Mark said blankly.

"That means somebody has to make it to Deadhorse."James said aloud.
"It can't be done, boy.Not with what you've got for vehicles."Amos said becoming irritated at having to repeat himself.

"How did you get here?"Terrence asked, sitting nearby to Haley who was still sitting shakily on the couch.
"On foot."Amos replied.
"I don't buy that."James immediately responded.
"Buy it."Amos retorted, staring James down,"I had set up camp about two miles north of here.It also wasn't storming when I made my way here."

"I think we should do what he says,"Makaya stated,"we should go upstairs and wait until morning."
"That's still hours away."James said frustrated.
"Yeah, how do we know it won't get to us?"Courtney demanded in a frantic tone.

"T-The attic,"Mark said,"it has only one way in from inside the house and a hatch that leads up on the roof.There's a ladder on the roof to help us get down s-safely."
"I agree with Amos and Makaya, and Mark,"Abby said,"we need to hole up until morning.We can go get the police if the storm subsides."

Amos nodded and said,"Trust me, I've waited it out before.We're not safe down here, there are too many ways for it to get into the first floor area.The attic is our best bet.The Tartok isn't a patient creature.Eventually it's going to break down one of these doors or jump through one of these windows and then we're in trouble."

"We need to arm ourselves first, everybody grab a gun."James said aloud.

Mark and James reached over to the table and grabbed a gun.
Mark grabbed the thirty-thirty lever action and James grabbed the pump shotgun.
Haley and Courtney both grabbed one of the twenty two pistols.

Hazel stared at the weapons on the table with wide eyes.

"I seriously don't know how to use any of these." She grabbed the shotgun and a crossbow trying to tell which felt better. "I'll decide upstairs." She grabbed the quiver, slung it over her shoulder, and stuffed her pockets with ammunition. She was glad her she had boots. She was getting cold.

"Oh! The fire! The Tartok might try to smoke us out if we leave it burning." Without waiting for an answer, Hazel dashed away, running for the kitchen. She didn't want to waste time on the sink just in case the pipes were frozen, and she went to the fridge to grab bottled water and anything else she could splash on the fire to put it out. She regretted building it up so much now.

Mark grabbed up several little boxes of ammunition and stuffed it into his jeans.
Amos spoke,"Alright, now, everyo-"
CRASH!
A spray of wood and metal flew through the air from the direction of the basement door.
Table legs from the wedged table, metal from the hinges and the door handle , and chunks of the door itself.
A loud chilling roar swept the room as the hideous Tartok came seemingly flying from the black chasm where the door once was.
It was more visible now than it was before, which was quite a terrifying circumstance.
The monster stood well over six feet, it towered in comparison to Terrence.
It's skin was a deathly gray-dirty white, it's eyes were milky white, and it's skin was totally hairless all over and looked taut and strained.
Muscles and veins could be seen stretched out to a visible extent.
It's bald head was shiny and greasy looking.
It wore no clothes other than a pair of baggy and partially ripped pair of work pants, like those that workmen wear.
It snarled in hunger as it looked at the group around the couch.

"Holy shit!"Cried James.
"Oh My God!"Wailed Courtney.
Makaya and Haley simply shrieked while Abby stood frozen with fear.
"Goddamn!"Yelled Terrence.

"Run!"Yelled Amos.
He raised his heavy calibre rifle and fired, the flash lighting up the dark room and the sound of the shot, though not as bad as in the basement, was still very loud.
The creatures stumbled back from the shot and nearly fell.

Terrence, James, and Mark and bolted for the stairs and went practically leaping upwards.
Haley turned and dashed toward the kitchen while Makaya and Abby rushed toward the stairs.
The Tartok suddenly leapt out in front of them and snarled in fury, both girls screamed and scambeled backwards, Makaya nearly falling.
Amos raised his rifle and fired again, the bullet catching the creature in the left knee making it drop to the floor.
Both girls immediately dashed past it and made it to the top of the steps as the Tartok rose again.
"Dammit!"Amos snarled, he shifted another she'll into his rifle chamber and prepared to shoot again, this time however the Tartok leapt forward and swing it's right arm mightily and swatted Amos's gun from his arms.
It flew across the room and smashed against the far wall and fell to the floor.
Amos immediately whipped out a large, sharp long bladed knife.

Courtney was scrambling across the floor, sobbing with tears rolling down her face.
She compressed herself in a corner behind a nearby chair.

Amos took a big swing with the knife and drove it into the Tartok's right eye, sending a spray of blackish colored blood.
The monster screamed, a loud distorted sound that sounded like a mix between a man and some type of wild animal.
It grabbed at it's face and began tugging at the knife.
"Go!"Amos yelled at Hazel,"Get upstairs!"

The grizzly man and the monster both stood right at the bottom step of the staircase.
Haley was hiding somewhere in the kitchen and Courtney was tucked away behind a chair bawling her eyes out.
Everyone else had made it upstairs.

The Tartok jerked the knife from it's now bloody eye socket and flung the blade across the room.
In a flash, it grabbed up Amos with both hands, lifted him off the ground, and with a mighty heave, sent him flying across the room.
He slammed against the wall and dropped limply to the floor.

Amos raised his head weakly to see the beast approaching, his rifle lay several feet away from him.
He strained out to grab it, only to have his hand stomped down on hard by the Tartok.
A cracking in his hand was accompanied by a cry of pain from his mouth.

Hazel was loading up her arms with several jugs of water when the noise in the hallway exploded. Shouts and swears followed what sounded like a car crashing through the walls.

"Run!" She heard Amos yell, his voice echoing throughout the house. A gunshot went off, reverberating through the walls, threatening to bring the ringing back to Hazel's ears.

Haley came racing in, but Hazel was so loaded with the shotgun, crossbow, quiver, and jugs of water she couldn't see where she went or what she was doing.

"Get upstairs!" She heard Amos shout, and without a second though, she dropped the water jugs, forgetting about the fire burning in the hearth, and ran, the eagle's leather cord still wrapped tightly around her knuckles. Leaving the kitchen behind, Hazel saw the Tartok looming over Amos, his weapon just out of reach.

She didn't know how to use the weapons, but she did know how to use knives and skewers. She grabbed a crossbow bolt from the quiver on her back and ran toward the Tartok's back. She asked for all of the upper body strength she had gained while rock climbing to serve her now, and raised the bolt like a knife, aiming for the Tartok's neck. The eagle was held out in front of her as she ran to save Amos, the only person who really knew what was going on.

She was sure she was yelling nonsense, maybe even just yelling, wondering how she could be so stupid as to run toward the horrific monster.